Total War Warhammer 2 – XBOX360

First, this is a Total War campaign in which the goal isn’t territorial conquest. Not alone, anyway. We come to the New World at a time of crisis – just as the Great Vortex that has swirled above Ulthuan for millennia starts to fail.

The Vortex is a great plughole that sucks magic – the essence of Chaos – from the world. Every race has a vested interest in either saving or disrupting it. Campaign progress is made by performing a series of arcane rituals, and Creative Assembly say this struggle will lead to a “cataclysmic” endgame that will shape the fate of the Warhammer world.

The second point of interest is the prospect of a combined campaign map. If you own both Total War: Warhammer I and II, you’ll get a free update shortly after release that lets you play across both maps stitched together, as any of the existing playable races.

As ever, though, the campaign represents hundreds of hours of empire expansion, city development and widescreen, real-time battles. That much doesn’t change.